Musée du Louvre-Lens. France
In keeping with a desire to maintain the openness of the site and to reduce the ascendancy
of this large project, the building was broken down into several spaces. Through their size
and layout, which follow the gradual changes in terrain elevation, the buildings achieve
balance with the scale of the site and the shape of the paths, landscape features evoking its
mining history.
In order to visually and physically open up the site, the main glassed area features a hollow in
the core of the building. This delicate glass box serves as an entry hall to the museum and is a
genuine public space for the city of Lens. It is transparent and opens up to several directions
of the site, and it can be crossed through to get to different quarters of the city.
The project avoids the strict, rectilinear shapes that would have conflicted with the subtle
character of the site, as well as of free shapes that would have been overly restrictive from the
perspective of the museum’s internal operations. The slight inflection of the spaces is in tune
with the long curved shape of the site and creates a subtle distortion of the inner areas while
maintaining a graceful relationship with the artwork. The spaces are contained by a façade
of anodized, polished aluminum that reverts a blurred and fuzzy image of the sites contours,
reflections that change as one strolls by depending on the landscaping and available light.
The main exhibition buildings flank the entry hall, the Grande Galerie on one side and the
temporary exhibition hall on the other. The entrance hall leads to a lower level that contains
storage space and artwork restoration areas. The museum thus opens its rear areas to the
public.
In the park, two free standing buildings house the administration offices and the restaurant,
linking the museum to the city. The entry to the museum is located at the center of the former
pit and is the historical access to the site, rising gently from Paul Bert street. The transparent
areas in the building provide views of the surrounding wood and the city of Lens.
This
entry point provides a perspective of the entire building and of the panorama over the park
reflected in the glass and aluminum surfaces. The entry area was designed as a void that is
part of the landscape and visible from everywhere. It takes in visitors arriving at the museum
from the main North entrance, as well as from the grassy areas to the East and the wood from
the West. This large, transparent area of 68.5 X 58.5 meters is an ample space within which
diverse functional areas exist for the museum’s visitors. There is a bookshop, a cafeteria for
meeting friends, a place to obtain information about the exhibitions; or one can simply cross
the hall to go from one side or the other of the park or the site. The glass «bubbles» are 3
meters high and seem to float within the interior of the hall.
They are primarily for publicrelated functions and provide areas for individual experiences.»
Access to the first lower level of the building is at the center of the hall, inciting visitors to enter
the art storage area and the services area containing washrooms and dressing rooms. Also
on the first lower level may be found the group meeting area, providing a specific greeting
location without interfering with the normal flow of individual visitors. Staff areas have their
own entrance and are located in the center of the museum, also on the first lower level. The
sitting room is located to the south of the hall, in one of the glass bubbles. Although it is
closely connected to all museum activities, it is still a more intimate space apart. The floor of
the hall is a layer of concrete with a light colored finish.
Slim steel columns painted white support the metallic roof structure.
Openings overhead reflect the geometric themes present in the hall, to the right of openings
in the slab that direct light to the lower level. The ceiling is covered with sheets of perforated
aluminum of a very light color, reflecting natural light and drifting over the entire underside.
The facades are large, full-height glass bays that are double insulated. A system of roll-down
shades provides protection from the sun. (SANAA)
Facts and Credits:
Adresse Rue Paul Bert, Lens, 62300, France
Maitre d’ouvrage: Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Type de Bâtiment: Musée + Parc
Architecte: SANAA Team: Kazuyo Sejima, Ryue Nishizawa, Yumiko Yamada, Yoshitaka Tanase, Louis-Antoine Grégo, Rikiya Yamamoto, Kohji Yoshida, Lucy Styles, Erika Hidaka, Nobuhiro Kitazawa, Bob Van den Brande, Arrate Arizaga Villalba, Guillaume Choplain, Osamu Kato, Naoto Noguchi, Shohei Yoshida, Takashige Yamashita, Takashi Suo, Ichio Matsuzawa, Andreas Krawczyk, Angela Pang, Jonas Elding, Sam Chermayeff, Jeanne-Francois Fischer, Sophie Shiraishi
Paysagiste: Mosbach Paysagistes: Catherine Mosbach, Atelier 122, Delphine Elie, Jessica Gramcko, Etienne Haller, Jennifer Mui, Solène Leray, Pauline Rabin Le Gall, Marie Ross, Jean-Francois Seaju, Eiko Tomura
Museography: Studio Adrien Gardère: Adrien Gardère, Lucie Dorel, Mathieu Muin
Architecte d’Opération: Extra Muros: Michel Lévi, Antoine Saubot, Mathilde Bedu, Delphine Isart, Valérie Le Berre, Takako Sugi, Naori Yamazoe, Dimitri Feve, Emmanuel Flament, Julien Gervais, Perre Keszler, Manuel Martins, Camille Spender
Antoine Belin: Antoine Belin, Joëlle Martin, Séverine Estela, Noémi Canlers
BET Economiste: Bureau Michel Forgue
BET: Betom Ingénierie
BET Structure métallique: Bollinger + Grohmann Sarl
Structure Concept: SAPS / Sasaki and Partners
BET Façade: Bollinger + Grohmann Sarl
BET Eclairage: Arup Lighting
Energie Concept: Transplan
BET HQE: Penicaud Architcture Environment
BET Acoustique: Avel Acoustique
BET SSI: Groupe Casso
Paysagiste d’Opération: Atelier LD
Signalétique: Norm
Multimédia: On-Situ
Museography 2006 - 2008: Imrey Culbert
